College of Education Magazine

College of Education Mission Matters Magazine

School counselors
rise to meet
changing K–12
landscape
By Dr. Alan Burkard
A few years ago, to address a class assignment for one of
my research classes, a school counseling student examined
reading scores at the school where she was completing her
practicum experience. She noticed the student scores had
remained consistently at the basic or minimal performance
levels but was puzzled because the school had a reading
intervention designed to elevate these scores. I encouraged
her to scrutinize the problem further, specifically
examining other factors that may have been contributing
to the problem. She discovered that most students did not
arrive at school until about 10:30 a.m. The reading
intervention, however, was scheduled during the first class
period of the day, just after 8 a.m. Consequently, many of
the students in need of reading assistance did not receive
the full benefit of the intervention. Needless to say, my
student was shocked and initially speechless, although her
concern drove her to action.
Having traveled the country as the president of the
American School Counselor Association this year, I find that
this kind of story illustrates the typical concerns that today’s
school counselors are compelled to address. The field of
school counseling has undergone significant transformation
in the past 15 years. No longer is graduate training simply
promoting the development of strong counseling skills.
Although contemporary school counselors must develop
these foundational helping skills, they are also expected to
be strong leaders who rely on the use of data to make
decisions about curriculum, standards-based education and
interventions. They are agents as well for systemic change in
schools. They specifically target academic, career and
personal-social concerns for change at the individual, group
and classroom levels. They collaborate with other
educational professionals and parents to promote positive
development for students. Furthermore, they are particularly
attuned to social justice concerns, such as gaps in
achievement that are too often apparent across culturally
and economically diverse groups.
We have been particularly blessed at Marquette to have a
program that can and has evolved concurrently with the
changing landscape of contemporary education. Current
school counselors consider themselves to be reformers and
social justice advocates. Similarly, our students are
encouraged to develop the leadership and advocacy skills to
influence school climates positively and to identify —
­ and
intervene to close — achievement gaps. These skills and the
innovative spirit of our students will be critical to addressing
the difficult political environment of schools and the
communities in which they reside.
Certainly the past year in Wisconsin politics has
demonstrated the difficult environment that graduates
of our school counseling program will face as new
professionals. Perhaps fortunate for elementary, middle,
and high school students and their families, our program
students were selected to attend Marquette because of their
energy, passion and excitement for the school counseling
profession. Upon graduation, these students leave our
institution ready to act as leaders and advocates in schools,
having acquired the knowledge, skills and dispositions to
develop comprehensive school counseling programs that
meet the needs of students and their families. As such, I
know that every graduate of our program will have a positive
effect on the schools in which they are employed, for
coming to Marquette meant they elected to care for
the whole person by becoming leaders, advocates,
educators and counselors for the benefit of all students.
Dr. Alan Burkard is an associate professor and chair of counselor
education and counseling psychology.